An Ames nursing home is facing fines but the facility is not alone in a statewide problem, according to an Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals official.

The Abington on Grand, 3440 N. Grand Ave., has received fines totaling $4,500 for violations including underweight patients and improper health documentation, said David Werning, spokesman for the department.

Werning said Abington has received five fines since Aug. 12, four cited initially and a fifth cited on Sept. 16.

Other nursing homes in Iowa are also receiving fines.

“Unfortunately, it’s not an isolated case,” Werning said. “So far this fiscal year we have issued 34 fining and citation documents against Iowa nursing homes.”

Werning said some of the 34 instances are repeated fines.

“Some of those are multiple,” he said. “Once we find problems and go back, we fine them again.”

Abington falls in the middle of the state’s cost range for fines, Werning said. “The highest state fine assessed this year has been $10,000 and the lowest has been $100.”

Three nursing home facilities in Des Moines have also been fined by the state this year, he said.

Iowa Jewish Senior Life Center was fined $2,000 on July 8, and CLC University and Fleur Heights Care Center were fined $10,000 and $2,500 respectively on Aug. 9.

Evangelical Free Church Home in Boone was fined $3,600 on July 23, and an additional $850 on Aug. 28 .

Peter Martin, ISU gerontology professor, said these problems in nursing homes are unacceptable.

“This should not be natural,” he said. “We need to give the best services available and [nursing home problems] can be prevented.”

Edward Finn, chairman for Abington’s Residents’ Advocacy Committee, said several of the charges faced by Abington, like the weight-loss issue, are due to the natural aging of patients.

The facility houses many residents with serious problems requiring extra care, he said.

“We think that the staff [at Abington] is trying to do a good job and we’ll keep working with them,” he said.

Martin said it is incorrect to blame these problems on the natural aging processes of elderly adults.

“There’s no doubt that there are older people in nursing homes that have dementia and delusions, but they don’t have anything to do with malnutrition and barricading rooms,” he said.

Martin said most nursing homes don’t experience the problems Abington has.

“I think it’s the minority of homes [that have these problems] — probably the ones that don’t have funding to hire the right staff and have to cut corners somewhere,” Martin said. “If these are natural aging processes, we should see them in every nursing home and we don’t.”

Werning said a complaint inspection was done during annual inspections at Abington. At this time, the facility was surveyed and a random sample of 14 patients was assessed.

Following the inspection, a fining and citation document was released.

“Thirty deficiencies were found at the survey, ranging from everything from paperwork problems to problems we felt affected resident safety,” Werning said.

Werning said the first fine of $3,000 was for a Class I violation of unplanned weight loss in residents.

The second infraction, a Class II $400 fine, was for failure to prevent injury or provide treatment for injuries received from physical restraints in three of 14 residents, he said.

A third, another Class II $400 fine, was for failure to prevent intervention in a timely fashion with a condition change in a resident, Werning said.

He said the fourth and fifth infractions were Class II fines of $400 and $300 for failure to provide the necessary services to prevent bedsores.

Werning said action is being taken to correct Abington’s failures.

“The faculty has to submit a plan of correction to show how they’ll deal with the deficiencies we’ve cited,” he said.

Werning said Abington has appealed the violations cited by the state.

“They don’t believe they’ve violated those policies we’ve cited in the survey. The appeal let’s them say, OK so maybe there was one case — but it’s not worth a Class 1 fine,” Werning said.

He said closing a facility is always the last resort.

“However, they have been put under denial of payment of new additions under Medicare and Medicaid,” Werning said. He said this punishment comes from the federal level, not the state level.